An urgent appeal to: Labour and progressive organizations and activists
Support Iranian Labour Activists!
Free Mansour Osanloo Now! Drop Sentences against Saqez Labour Leaders!
Sample Letter
Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadjinejad,
President of the
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
Fax: + 98 21 649 58 80
I am writing to express my/ our serious concerns about the violent re-arrest and unjustified imprisonment of Mr. Mansour Osanloo, the President of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed).
Mr. Osanloo was arrested by plain clothes agents, who refused to show any identification or arrest warrants, on Sunday, November 19, 2006 while he, along with two other union board members, were on their way to the office of the Labour Ministry in Tehran East. The agents physically and verbally assaulted Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, the union’s vice-president, and one of them pointed a gun at Mr. Madadi and fired a bullet in the air. The agents finally forced Mr. Osanloo into a waiting car and drove away.
Osanloo, who had an eye operation last week and his eye was bandaged at time of his arrest, was summoned to attend a court hearing on November 20, 2006. In December 2005, Mr. Osanloo was arrested following a job action by members of his union. He was released on 150 million Toman (about $US 165,000) bail after about 8 months in Tehran’s Evin prison.
In addition, according to the latest news, Mahmoud Salehi, the former President of the Bakery Workers’ Association of the city of Saqez and a co-founder of the Coordinating Committee to Form Worker’s Organization, has been sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. Jalal Hosseini, a labour activist in the city of Saqez and an executive board member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Worker’s Organization in the Western Iran, was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment. Borhan Divargar, another labour activists arrested on May Day 2004, was earlier sentenced to two years in prison. The initial arrests and the final charges against the above labour activists were made in connection with their attempts to participate in May Day 2004 celebration in Saqez.
I am outraged at these arrests and sentences which show that
your government has disregarded the fundamental workers’ rights, such as
freedom of association and the right to celebrate the Labour Day.
I strongly urge you to free Mansour Osanloo immediately and unconditionally and
take immediate measures to ensure that all sentences against the above labour
activists are unconditionally dropped without any further repercussions.
Print Name
CC: Ambassador Mohammad Reza Alborzi,
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
Institutions in Geneva, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland,
Fax: +41 22 733 02 03, E-mail: mission.iran@ties.itu.int
Mohammad Jahromi, Iran’s Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. Fax No: 00982166931062. Ministry of Labor’s Public relation’s Director General: Email: public_relation@irimlsa.ir
For more information, contact info@workers-iran.org or alliance@workers-iran.org.
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran
Background Information: www.workers-iran.org
November 20, 2006